Hive, 'BTS Absence, Inner Red' I can't stand it..2Q Sales KRW 640.5 Billion 'All-time High'
Aug 07, 2024
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As of the first half of the year, it recorded a total of KRW 1.14 trillion, surpassing KRW 1 trillion in sales in the first half of the year for the second consecutive year following last year (1.316 trillion won). It is an achievement achieved by BTS despite the absence of group activities in the process of fulfilling its military service obligations.
The record-high second-quarter performance was driven by direct participatory sales (423.9 billion won), including record labels. Despite the decline in album sales across the K-pop market, which began in the second half of last year, direct participatory sales remained similar to last year as the return albums of major Hive artists received good responses one after another.
Record sales, which account for the largest portion of direct participation sales, rose 1.5% year-on-year to KRW 249.5 billion in the second quarter. In the first half of the year, Hive Music Group artists sold more than 15 million albums, or 34% of the total domestic album sales. Not only the album but also the music sector showed a strong performance. According to Spotify, eight of the top 10 most-streamed K-pop songs in the world except Korea in the first half of the year were music by Hive Music Group artists.
The performances of Hive Music Group artists have been remarkable on various charts. In the first half of the year, five songs were charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and a total of 12 albums were charted on the Billboard 200. In addition, a total of three teams were ranked in the top 10 album sales in the United States. In Japan, the world's second-largest music market, a total of five teams were listed on the Oricon Chart's first-half album rankings.
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In the second quarter, consolidated operating profit fell 37% year-on-year to 50.9 billion won. The decrease in operating profit was affected by the initial cost executed by the full-scale launch of various new businesses, and the expansion of the lineup of new artists. Specifically, the initial marketing cost of the publishing game 'Be a Star 2: The Knights of Veda' that launched the service on April 2 ▲ Binary Korea, which opened the creator fandom platform 'Dearce' in June, ▲ Superton ▲ Hive Latin Corporation, which launched the artificial intelligence-based real-time voice conversion service 'Shift', and other operating costs were reflected. Hive is investing in the 'Tech-Based Future Growth Business' field for sustainable growth and expects profitability to improve from the third quarter as the business is going smoothly as originally planned and a large number of artists are scheduled to participate at home and abroad.
In the second half of the year, artists from Hive Music Group continue to be active. BTS Jin will release a solo album in the second half of the year, and Seventeen will visit fans from all over the world through a new album and a world tour covering Korea, the United States, and Japan. ENHYPEN is set to perform in Jakarta and encore in two Japanese cities for the first time since its debut. Le Seraphim plans to make a comeback with his fourth mini-album 'CRAZY' on the 30th. In addition, Newzins is raising global fans' expectations by predicting a world tour next year.
"The second half of 2024 is the beginning of a new era led by new leadership, and it is the time to lay the foundation for mid- to long-term growth by fostering music, platform, and technology-based future growth businesses," said Lee Jae-sang, CEO of Hive. "Hive will further solidify its essential capabilities and design future IP and future fandom business models that take into account the changing market environment."
yaqqol@sportschosun.com
